Bob Myers talks Kevin Durant meeting on The Jim Rome Show

When the contingency of Golden State management and players had their meeting with free agent Kevin Durant last weekend in the Hamptons, Warriors general manager Bob Myers felt each person did a good job of selling the organization to the 2014 NBA MVP. However, Myers told The Jim Rome Show on Friday that there was one person who he believes pushed the pitch over the top, which ultimately secured Durant’s signing with Golden State.

“I think the most important one was Steph [Curry],” Myers said of the two-time reigning MVP’s pitch. “Because as you know, you have superstars right, that’s who you have on your show most of time and people that have egos, and the truth is most superstars want the shine, they want the spotlight. They might say it publicly but they don’t love sharing it, and that’s what makes Steph so different is his humility, and the fact that he genuinely doesn’t care.

“Yes, he has an ego, he wants to win, he’s not going to turn down an MVP award but he doesn’t play for that. So when he looked at Kevin and said, ‘I just want to win, and I want you to be a part of that,’ and he said it in a way that’s authentic, believable, that was the part that I think resonated the most.”

Although even at the time the meeting was over, Myers still wasn’t sure what Durant was thinking.

“I didn’t know if we were getting him. I didn’t think we had a better shot than anybody else,” Myers said. “It’s kind of like when you go on a date and you leave and you go like, I don’t know if she’s going to call me back or should I have said something differently? I don’t think we did anything special, so I was kind of surprised it worked as well as it did.”

As it turned out, Myers was very surprised when Durant called. “I had the concession speech prepared more than the acceptance speech,” Myers said.

Myers said that Kevin sort of threw him for a loop with his call. “He said, ‘I want to tell you guys you’re a first class organization and you did a great job but…’ and when he dropped that but, I thought here we go, man it’s over, because that’s what it should have been. It should have been, but I’m going back or I’m going to Boston or wherever you’re going.”

But according to Myers, Durant was just trying to trick him with his wording, “‘But I just wanted to tell you on the phone I’m going to the Warriors.’ I asked him later, ‘Were you trying to mess with me?’ He goes, ‘I was, but I just didn’t follow through.’ So I was kind of like prepared to say thanks for thinking of us, but I kind of fumbled the acceptance. I don’t even remembered what I said, but it was pretty weak.”

Myers was asked if the high of getting Durant can replace the low of losing Game 7 of the NBA Finals against Cleveland.

“Usually you have to live with a Game 7 loss for a long time and we will, we still do. That still hurts, but this takes some of the pain away, doesn’t take all of it away, by any stretch,” Myers said. “Because even with Kevin, it doesn’t guarantee anything. I think our team got better, but that Game 7 will last a long time. That whole series being up 3-1, that hurts. It should hurt, and that’s what we told our players. Maybe we win, Kevin doesn’t come. I don’t know the answer to that, but that’s how life goes.

“Sometimes things work out and you think everything is in a bad spot and things turn kind of quickly, so it’s a good thing it’s a good thing for our fans.”